@demich I went with the dCS Bartok 2.0 (used). It is the Bartok version before the apex. I should get it next week. Weiss 501 was a close second, but I thought there would be too much brightness when using it with my B&W 804 D4s.
Is there anything other than a Benchmark DAC?
I own the Benchmark DAC3 and love it. I am looking for another DAC due to the addition of a second system. It will either go with a Boulder/Audio Research/(B&W or Vandersteen) system or a McIntosh/Bryston/(B&W or Vandersteen) system. I am looking to try to get something under 3k (maybe 4k) used. I've been looking for a month or so and have seen Bryston (DAC3 wanna be), Primaluna (too much distortion) and a bunch of really old stuff. I have yet to justify any purchase when a DAC3 is sitting there new around 2k with those untouchable distortion numbers. I would love to try a tube DAC tho another solid state DAC would be fine. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Given my DAC3 bias I would love to hear from those whose bias differs from mine.
Showing 7 responses by delmatae
thx bhvf, i will give M6X a try.
soix, I think for the most part I want to find something with a different sound. That's why I was thinking tubes. Don't want to step down much in quality from the DAC3. |
More great stuff thx all. @yyzsantabarbara Yes I run my DAC3 through an ARC tube pre and then to a Boulder amp. It really sounds good, both through vandersteens and B&W's. @cundare2 I do think the DAC3 will end up in my second system. I have run it through my Mac before and liked the results.. @yage I did have an Ayre VX-5 amp for a while with my ARC pre which is also zero feedback with my Vandersteens. It sounded great, I do like the boulder better though. |
@mitch2 yes I am, tho I am leaning towards something suggested in this thread. |
@soix Do you have any suggestions in the 8 to 10 k range (new) that you would perfer to the denafrips terminator-2? Anyone else please chim in too. thx |